Casting Processes

Willman Industries high-performance, high-integrity castings are found in the finest products of many of the most demanding and respected companies in the world. Willman Industries consists essentially of two
foundries, one for no-bake castings up to 40,000 pounds, and the other for green sand castings up to 1500 lbs.

ABS Iron Casting Certification:

Willman Industries is on the The American Bureau of Shipping’s (ABS) Approved List of casting facilities. The ABS Rules are the basis for assessing the construction and design of vessels and their components. The Rules promote the security of our environment, life and personal property.

Meehanite:

Meehanite is a patented process for casting iron to exacting specifications. This includes using superior engineering cast irons like: flake graphite irons (Grey Iron), and nodular graphite irons (Ductile Iron). Following the Meehanite Iron Casting Process allows Willman Industries to achieve uniform soundness, consistent physical properties and dependable service performance for all of our castings. The primary reason that Meehanite Metals have superior characteristics is a result of the dense grain structure that creates casting solidity and consistent physical properties.

At Willman, we control the metallurgy in the furnace; we assure that the nodularity of every ladle of Ductile Iron is correct; we have engineered our gating & rigging to assure quality and consistency in every pour; and we check castings before they leave the foundry – all to ensure that the castings for every client meets and, in almost every cases, exceeds our customer’s specifications.

No-Bake Molding:

The No-Bake Foundry consists of two production molding areas producing castings from 500 pounds to 36,000 pounds. Each no-bake molding line is equipped with its own continous mixer, mixing up to 1500 pounds of molding sand per minute. The lines are equipped to support flask sizes from 36×36 up to 144×144. In addition to standard flask molds, Willman is capable of producing no-bake molds in mold boxes or with loose patterns. Production quantities from no-bake molding lines vary from 1 casting per year to as many as 8-12 castings per day.

Willman Industries’ green sand molding offers the distinct advantage of using green sand for larger casting production, that many foundries would need to run, one-at-a-time in no-bake. We are able to produce larger castings efficiently, in green sand, on the BMM molding line while maintaining high quality standards. Our Harrison and Pin Lift molding machines can produce castings in quantities from 1 to 10,000+ annually at the highest quality levels utilizing economical pattern equipment.

Austempering Process:

Austempered ductile iron or A.D.I. as it is commonly called, is a ductile iron which is processed by a special heat treatment. The resulting material has a combination of exceptional strength and toughness, meeting and often exceeding those of alloy steels. This, in conjunction with ductile irons’ superior castability, results in a material which can be used to cast more complex shapes, with a greater certainty of consistent quality, and often at less cost.

Solution Strengthened Ductile Iron

A new generation of ductile irons has been developed by Willman Industries. These new grades produce higher strengths with even greater elongation. These Solution Strengthened Ductile Iron, also called Ferritic Iron; grades can be produced and cast with greater uniformity of casting properties than the original ductile iron grades. The material’s strength is dependent on how easily a dislocation in its crystal lattice can be propagated. Depending on the character of the material stress fields can be created by the dislocations. When solute atoms are introduced, local stress fields are formed that interact with those of the dislocations, impeding their motion and causing an increase in strength of the Solution Strengthened Ductile Iron. This gain is a result of both the modulus effect and lattice distortions.